Harbor Freight to donate entire supply of personal protective equipment to hospitals

Sun, 03/22/2020 - 6:15pm

    Harbor Freight Tools will be donating its entire supply of personal protective equipment such as N95 masks, face shields and nitrile gloves to 24 hour emergency rooms in the communities served by its stores. 

    Harbor Freight has six stores in Maine, including a location on Camden Street in Rockland. 

    “As we’ve been following the news over the last few days, we’ve heard about the severe shortage of protective gear for hospitals, healthcare works and first responders as the impact of COVID-19 is being felt across the country,” said Harbor Freight Founder Eric Smidt in a letter. “America depends on these heroes every day and in the days ahead we will depend on them even more. At Harbor Freight, we want them to know that they can depend on us too.” 

    Those working at a hospital with a 24 hour emergency room in need of person protective equipment are encouraged to ask the office in charge of procurement to visit hf.tools/ppe-request to provide the company with information to determine if a donation can be made. 

    Members of the community who would like to nominate a hospital with a 24 hour emergency room are encouraged to email hospitalhelp@harborfreight.com and include the hospital’s city and state in the subject line. 

    Smidt, in the letter, noted members of the community should not make requests at individual Harbor Freight locations or via the company’s call center. 

    Hospitals receiving assistance will be emailed a voucher when supplies are available to be picked up at their nearest location. 

    “Altough we certainly won’t have enough of these supplies to fill everyone’s needs, we’re going to donate everything we’ve got,” Smidt wrote.